Road Rage
by Kestrel1
Summary: The ultimate loner OD's on emotion...
1. Damage Report

Logan stood up, a little shaky. He paced around the room for a while trying to regain his bearings. He sniffed the air. The institute. At least he was home, but why was he so disoriented? The room didn't even look familiar to him. He walked into the hallway and soon found the Professor sitting down with the other X-Men. All eyes were on Logan as he stood in the doorway.  
He surveyed the scene, wondering why everyone was staring at him. Cyclops was there...Jean...the Porcupine...Ro and Chuck...only three chairs were empty. His, the elf's, and--and then everything came back to him. "Kitty," he said out loud. He got the sensation that he was falling, and he dug his claws into the door to brace himself. The next thing he knew, he was back in the bed he had woken up in.  
"Logan, please take it easy," the Professor said. "You have a concussion." Logan sat up in bed. "I've healed from worse, just let me get up and...woah..." He started to feel very dizzy again. The Professor projected the image of Logan's smashed bike helmet into his mind to show him how badly he had been hurt. But instead of calming him down, it agitated him.  
"Kitty," he said again, but he couldn't quite remember the details. "Where is she, Chuck?" The Professor frowned. "She...was on your motorcycle with you." Logan nodded. "I remember...I picked her up from school 'cause she had band today," he said. Professor Xavier looked at him as if he were expecting a better answer. "Logan," he said, hoping that he would remain calm, "She was hurt. Very badly."  
In a few minutes Logan had recalled the whole thing to his friend. He had been taking Kitty home from school on his bike, and they came to an intersection, and they were hit by a van. The professor informed Logan that he had recieved a massive head injury, even by his standards, his bike had been destroyed, Kitty was hospitalized and the driver that had hit them got away.  
After suddenly becoming nauseous and throwing up, Logan decided he had to go see Kitty in the hospital. The Professor urged him not to. Kurt was at her side, he said, and Logan wasn't exactly in traveling condition. And Xavier feared that seeing Kitty in her current condition would set Logan off. But he insisted, so the Professor told Scott to drive Logan to the hospital and stay with him.  
Scott was worried about Logan, and especially worried about Logan throwing up in his car. Every few blocks it looked like he was going to toss his cookies. "Geez, if you didn't have that healing power..." Scott said, trying to start up a conversation. "....I'd be dead. Keep your eye on the road." Logan flatly replied.  
They arrived at the hospital with just a few minutes of visiting time left. They found Kurt sitting by Kitty's bed, his head in his hands. Scott looked at Logan, waiting for him to snap or something. Instead, the man looked like he might break down and cry like a baby. "My God," he finally said, his expression hardening back to normal. "This is all my fault. If she dies, it's all my fault." Kurt looked up with surprise, and Scott was about to say something but Logan left the room.  
He found Logan a little later, walking out of the hospital. "Logan, where are you going?" Logan made an about face, causing Scott to almost walk right into him. "I need some air. Don't wait up." Scott was going to protest that the Professor had given him orders, but he really didn't want to argue with Logan in his current state. "Take it easy," he said weakly as Logan walked just out of earshot.  
Later that night, Scott and Kurt arrived back at the institute. To Scott's chagrin, Logan never came home. "Oh man," he said to himself, "The Professor is gonna have me cleaning the Danger Room for a week." 


	2. The Open Road

With his hat pulled tightly over his head, Logan was walking alongside the highway. In his mind, he couldn't go back home. Kitty laying in bed, bandaged and with the IV in her hand and that thing in her nose...it was frozen in his head like a picture carved into stone. He walked and walked, hoping he would feel better. Instead he felt something eating away at his gut more and more.  
The sky was lighter, almost dawn, when Logan was startled by a voice. "Where you headin', stranger?" Logan turned to see a man in a van pulled over next to him. "Anywhere but here, bub." The man smiled. "Sounds like a plan to me! Get in!" Without a second thought, Logan climbed in and they were off. He took one whiff of the air inside the van and looked to the back. There, laying down and looking a hole through him, was a huge pit bull.  
"Don't worry about Champ," the driver said, "He'll ignore ya before he starts trouble with ya."  
Logan nodded. "As long as I respect his turf."  
"That's the idea. You had any experience with animals?"  
"Somethin' like that."  
"Hey, what's your name, anyway?"  
"Logan."  
"The name's Casey. Good to meet ya. So, you been walkin' out here for long?" Casey looked over at Logan. He had already fallen asleep where he sat. He woke up some time later and his neck tensed up as the sun blared into his eyes. "Mornin'," Casey said cheerily. Logan grunted as Casey handed him a thermos. He grunted louder when he took a swig of coffee. "What is this stuff, mud and shit?" Casey chuckled. "It's strong, but it does the trick out on the road."  
After they had driven a few more miles, Casey broke out breakfast: Beef jerky. "So Logan, what're you runnin' from?" He asked casually as they broke beef together. Logan looked at him strangely. "I can see it in your eyes, you're on the road 'cause you're runnin' from somethin'." Logan shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. "What do you do for a livin', Case?"  
"Big rig deliveries, only smaller," he said, motioning to the back of the van. "Mostly the wrong kinds of stuff, but it pays for food and gas." Logan sniffed the air again out of curiosity. He was no K-9 drug dog, but besides Champ in the back the van reeked of cocaine. "Wrong kinds of stuff," he agreed. "What's your line o' work?" Casey asked.  
Logan cleared his throat, instantly giving away what he was, as Casey put it, running from. "I guess you could say I worked at this school for gifted kids...wasn't really work, though, I volunteered. But it was a place to hang my hat." Casey was impressed. "School for the gifted, huh? No offense, but you don't strike me as a scholar, Logan." He shook his head. "Not smart gifted. Maybe I'll explain it to ya later."  
A few road stops and many hours later, Logan found himself dozing off again. "Well if I didn't know better, I'd say this good ol' boy is followin' us, Logan," Casey said, stirring him. Logan checked out the side mirror. He'd know the motorcycle anywhere. Sabretooth. "Next stop pull over," Logan quickly said. "This guy is bad news, Case." 


	3. Shall We Dance?

The next bathroom and fast food place they passed, Casey got off the highway and Sabretooth followed close behind. By the time he rolled up to the parking lot, Logan was already outside waiting for him. "Just can't get rid of you, can I?" He said, clenching his teeth and fists. "I was thinkin' the same thing, Wolverine," Sabretooth said, taking off his helmet. Inside the van, Casey's eyes widened.  
The two old enemies charged at each other and locked up. Muscles straining, and face to face, they grinned. "Thought I'd never find ya," Sabretooth taunted, "Didn't think you'd skip town like a scared little girl after I arranged that little fender bender." Logan froze. "You son of a..." He said, his voice suddenly missing. In an instant, Sabretooth overpowered him, tossing him backwards into a parked car, denting it and setting the alarm off.  
Logan roared, popping his claws and attacking. But he wasn't focused, and Sabretooth weathered a few slashes and laid him out easily on the pavement. In a blur, something else was in the battle. "Sic 'im, Champ!" The pit bull went to town on the massive mutant, but Sabretooth flung the dog several yards onto the windshield of another car. BANG!  
Sabretooth turned, clutching his stomach. There was Casey, a shotgun trained on the monster. He fired again and blasted Sabretooth in the neck. With a pained cry, he fell to his knees. "You went too far this time," Logan said, back on his feet. "Too far." With that, he drove his claws into Sabretooth's chest. The larger man's eyes widened. "That's called irony, Runt," he said, his voice shaking and barely above a whisper. "Guess who the wheelman was." With that, Logan slashed Sabretooth's throat and face.  
"Logan...I didn't know...my God, I'm sorry..." Casey stammered. Logan's jaw dropped. Without reasoning the situation out, he turned and pinned Casey against the side of his van, his neck in between the outer two claws on Logan's right hand. "You bastard, you did it," he said, his voice almost an indistinguishable growl. "I swear I didn't know it was you!" Casey screamed. "I don't even know that guy! He just put out the money and I did it! Like I said, that's what I do!"  
"Yeah, well because of what you did, there's a little girl hurt real bad in the hospital back home. Because of you. And I wanna kill you, Case. I'd love to end you right now. 'Cause that's what I DO." Casey swallowed hard. "Logan...please! Look, guilt is tough, especially for guys like you...but don't do this, man...you're not thinkin' straight...!" "SHUT UP!" Logan screamed, pulling his claws back in and releasing Casey.  
Both men were breathing hard. A loud noise broke the silence, and they turned to see Sabretooth rev up and ride off. "What the hell...I shot that son of a bitch twice!" Casey exclaimed. "He doesn't die, get used to it," Logan said, his voice back to normal now. "So...gifted, huh?" Casey asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at Logan's hands. 


	4. The Way Home

Back in the van, Casey bandaged up Champ's wounds and the beverage of choice was beer. Logan filled Casey in on the X-Men, and the van driver felt even worse about what he had done. But he said a silent prayer of thanksgiving that Logan didn't rip his heart out before. "Not that I don't deserve it," he said out loud.  
Before they pulled away from their stop, Logan had decided he was going back home, and Casey insisted on breaking his schedule and bringing him back personally. "Hell, I might even find a new line of work," he said. "You should, Case, you should," Logan replied. "Next guy that tries to take you out might not be as nice as me." The two men laughed. Logan chalked his sense of humor up to the beer.  
"Might head down South," Casey mused as they pulled up to the Xavier Institute that night, after several more cold ones. "Find a woman, maybe even settle down somewhere." Logan looked him in the eye. "Don't get crazy on me, Case. Next thing I hear is you becomin' a priest or somethin'." The two men shook hands and Logan got out of the van. "Tell Kitty I'm sorry, that I'm goin' straight," Casey called as he pulled away, "I know she's gonna be OK, Logan. Be good, man!"  
Logan casually walked into the Xavier Institute and smelled everything. It was good to be home. He had to find Chuck, ask him how the half-pint was...His hearing picked up something, and he followed it down to the Danger Room. Cyclops and Nightcrawler had just finished a simulation. "You seemed distracted, Kurt, but nonetheless very good work," the Professor said. Kurt smiled. "I'm just excited that Kitty is coming home next veek!"  
Logan sighed quietly. She was OK. Everything was OK. In that case..."Elf, that was pathetic!" He shouted, making his presence known. The X-Men dropped everything for a moment and just stared at Logan. "If you want somethin' done right, I guess you gotta do it yourself," he said, relishing being back where he belonged.  
Given a moment to change into his Wolverine costume (everyone was still stunned at his return from nowhere), he joined the others in a simulated battle. "Welcome back," Scott said awkwardly. "Good to be back," Logan smiled. Even more shocking. "Don't get all mushy on us," Kurt teased.  
"Just turn this light show on," Logan said, his emotions fading as he pulled his mask down over his face. 


End file.
